I have always enjoyed taking part in the UKAC series of contests, they are very busy and ideal for portable operating in the summer months.
Not so much fun in the winter, but the chance to operate from home required a beam. I have tried to take part with a vertical co-linear, but the crossed polarised loss and my limited takeoff resulted in very poor results. The RSGB has recently added an FM section to activity evening, but while this is interesting to achieve any distance SSB is the mode.
Here is a typical portable setup, this one was in December!
I operate the Icom 7100, and this can facilitate 50, 70 and 144 MHz in SSB, so was looking for a beam that could do all 3 bands. DK7ZB has a design on his website that covers all 3 bands, with a very short boom. Yes, it’s a compromise antenna, but working on the principle it’s better than nothing!
The boom is just 1.2m long, and it is a single 50 Ohm feed.
The design is detailed on Martin website, the antenna is a 2e on 50 and 70 MHz and 3e on 144 MHz
I found the antenna very helpful at my QTH, allowing a small discreet 3 band yagi to be installed and me to take part in the UKAC contests. Here you can see the antenna around 7m high.
